Love,
Lynda M. in AZ
In a message dated 05/17/2001 8:02:38 AM US Mountain Standard Time, Azriela@mindspring.com writes:
<< CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK A free weekly online newsletter dedicated to helping you attract more good fortune into your life, love, and work.
By Azriela Jaffe, author of "Create Your Own Luck, Eight Strategies to Attract Good Fortune Into Your Life, Love, and Work ( Adams Media Inc., October 2000) <http://www.createyourownluck.com>
Issue #36, 5/17/01 Theme: After the miracle, what did you do?
***A LUCK-BUILDING STORY***
Some would say that Julie has created her own luck because she lives in Hawaii. She has other reasons to consider herself a luck builder. Here's her story:
i would like to share something that happened to me in 1988.
One rainy evening I had gone to a small shopping center to shop.The asphalt parking lot was on a gradual hill, and as I got out of the car and started to walk up toward the sidewalk, I slipped on the wet pavement and fell...in the car lane. My leg was pinned under me, and I could not get up. Suddenly I saw a car coming straight toward me in the dark parking lot!
At that second I felt strong arms picking me up from the ground and carrying me up to the sidewalk. It seemed as though we were almost floating. He was a slightly built man. He cradled me in his arms like a child,and placed me on the sidewalk in a standing position. When I turned to thank him he was gone...he had vanished! I looked everywhere, including all the stores where I thought he may have worked, but never found him!
The thing that was so hard to believe, is how he picked me up so effortlessly and carried me over thirty feet! I was a big gal at the time, and not easy for even a very large man to lift.
I'm sure he was an angel!
This experience really changed my life and my luck! Before this happened I was always questioning my faith, faith in God, and myself. This encounter confirmed my faith and changed the way I looked at life. It gave me renewed reason for living. My luck changed in so many ways.
Maybe just believing there actually were angels, certainly a God, and a afterlife..made me want to fill my life with things that would count...and not just go on living day after day with no purpose!
I remember one of the first things I did after my "experience" was 2 days later, when I saw this poor soul in the same shopping center where I had been helped. sitting on the sidewalk outside the drug store. He looked so forlorn. I stopped to ask him how he was doing? Before, I would not have given him the time of day. He replied,"I don't have any money to buy this prescription I need!" I remember the prescription was for Amoxicillin, a antibiotic. I asked him if I could buy it for him, and he started to cry. This was the start of a new life for me, and a change in me. Seems that when you give, it rebounds in good things that follow!
MY LUCK REALLY DID CHANGE! Even the job I had been seeking, and had given up on, came to me. My marriage that I thought was in trouble, suddenly blossomed, and I found myself "in love" again! So many things have continued for me that there is not enough room here to mention them all! Even our home we found in Hawaii was an absolute stroke of luck..but that's a another story in itself!
Warmest regards, Julie Williamson
****
Hmm, I'll have to get Julie to share her Hawaii house story, too! What I appreciate about this creating luck story is that some of us have extraordinary miracles happen, and after a few days or weeks, it's back to life as usual. What did you do for me today, God? If the sea doesn't part every month or so, these folks lose their faith in God, or at least, forget about his existence.
Julie was blessed with a life-saving miracle, and that event was totally out of her control. She created luck in her life, and the lives of others, by what she did with her life after this event, and that is quintissentially what this discussion list is all about. We believe in miracles, and we bless them when they happen, and then, we go about creating more good fortune in the lives of others as a result.
Free Creating Luck Book on it's way to Hawaii for Julie! Thanks Julie for sharing your story.
YOUR WEEKLY CREATING LUCK ASSIGNMENT:
Take a few moments to ponder the miracles you have already received in your life, those events so extraordinary in their timing, or good fortune, you believe that there was a divine force behind it. If you take the time to actually list all of these events, the ones you can remember anyway, you'll be reminded that we are not alone.
FAVORITE LUCK-BUILDING QUOTE
( anonymous prayer)
May today there be peace within you. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing that you are a child of God. Let His presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, and to bask in the sun. It is there for each and every one of you.
LETTERS FROM YOU SHARED WITH PERMISSION ( KEEP THEM COMING, I LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!)
And the mail continues in response to the debate about whether God helps us with minuscule events like finding a good parking spot:
Geoffrey Thomas shares:
Whereas I might agree that parking spaces are a little lower on the Creator's "to do" list than relieving the true sufferings of the innocent, I don't find the concept absurd. Is it important to Him that you find a bunch of really great parking spaces? That's not really the question, is it? The true question is, Is it important to Him that you have the spiritually renewing day you and your friend hoped for and needed? YES! It's not the parking space that's the miracle, but rather the manifestation of divine guidance. Had you not needed and prayed for a day of spiritual renewal, and not trusted that it would come, parking spaces would have been perhaps just as scarce as usual.
Some months ago, on my lunch break, I drove to the grocery store to get something to eat. Where I enter the parking lot is an easy task; where I exit is not. I need to get across three lanes of traffic in a short amount of space in order to get into the turn lane to get onto the street back to the office. It can be very frustrating at times, as the traffic can seemingly grow very heavy at the exact moment of my departure. At that point in my life, and particularly that day, my frustration and impatience levels were running extremely high, and the smallest of inconveniences would set me on edge. I was aware of this, and had been praying for help in regaining my usually easy going nature. Starting up my car, I looked over to the street I would be exiting unto, saw the condition of the traffic, and immediately became tense over the congestion and the speed. Nonetheless, as I drove to the exit I said a prayer, asking for both patience, and, if it were at all possible, a short wait. When I got there, the way was completely open. A "little thing", right? Not exactly a miracle, right? But it was what I NEEDED, both at that moment, and in the coming days as I slowly made my way back to where I needed to be.
Yes, I believe that miracles cane come in small, "insignificant" ways.
Love your newsletter!
Geoffrey Thomas
From: vfouquette@bmcc.cc.or.us (Valerie Fouquette)
Your newsletter was just forwarded to me and I read through the responses to your "parking angel" story. I, too, have a "parking angel" and have experienced miracles in that area; miracles I very much appreciate. I've also experienced miracles in other areas of my life and attribute those, too, to my angel. I'd like to respond to the person who thinks this is a trivialization of miracles by believing parking is a benefit we receive from God through our angels.
It seems to me that everything we experience on this Earth is a miracle. Waking up each morning, every breath we take, having "enemies" who keep us challenged and growing, dying - anything else we can think of. God and our angles are not limited as we are. There is no hierarchy of difficulty for them. If all things are possible, then what is trivial? Parking or overcoming disease, hatred and our limited thinking seems to me to be all the same.
If we were to view every aspect of our lives as a miracle and sacred, no matter how small, think what a change that would make in the world.
Valerie Fouquette
From: "Hirsch, Cynthia" <cynthia.hirsch@BCBSA.com>
Azriela, I can't help but respond to your reader who feels a parking space is a parking space. Maybe if more of us saw the hand of G d in the little things that cause stress in our lives we might have the time to see the miracle of the leaf. I believe, G d has a full spectrum of miracles in His pocket that He hands out every day. It is a shame that we only notice the big ones. (I consider leaves big ones.) Thank you for your story that gave me a laugh and is giving me the incite to be aware of how G d touches my life everyday. I have been debating whether or not to accept a new position in my company which is terminating 65 of us by the end of the year. I mentioned to a co-worker that I needed divine inspiration for this one. They laughed at me, but when I researched the position a little further I discovered that I would have to travel 25% of the time. The minute I heard that, I knew that was G d's response to my prayer. The job is not for me!! Your making us aware of God's little miracles made me know when I got an answer from Him. Keep up the wonderful newsletter and inspiration.
Cynthia in Chicago
FREE CREATE YOUR OWN LUCK BOOK:
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PLEASE REFER THIS NEWSLETTER
Please forward this newsletter to all you know who could benefit and encourage them to sign up! Mailto:azriela@mindspring.com, with "subscribe create luck" in the subject. I also appreciate you recommending this newsletter on your favorite ezines and in your online chats. The more subscribers we have, the more luck we can create, together! We're hovering around 3000 and not moving up from there. Can you help us spread the word? I hope so.
May good fortune smile on you today!
***** OTHER BOOKS BY AZRIELA JAFFE ****** Visit http://www.amazon.com to order
"Honey, I Want To Start My Own Business, A Planning Guide For Couples" (HarperBusiness 1996) (now out of print, order from me).
"Let's Go Into Business Together, Eight Secrets for Successful Business Partnering", expanded edition. (Career Press 2001.
"Starting from No," Ten Strategies to Overcome Your Fear of Rejection and Succeed in Business" (Dearborn,1999)
"Two Jews Can Still be a Mixed Marriage, Reconciling the Differences Regarding Judaism in Your Marriage" (Career Press 2000)
"Heartwarmers, Award-winning Stories of Love, Courage, and Inspiration" ( Adams Media 2000 AND 2001)
"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beating Debt" ( MacMillan 1999)
"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Flying and Gliding ( MacMillan 2000)
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